


Cutting Edge

by Geektaire



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Season/Series 10
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-13 17:46:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geektaire/pseuds/Geektaire
Summary: S10 compliant up to episode 4.When tragedy strikes how would you react? What would you do if you are about to lose the only person you love you have left?
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Carol Peletier
Comments: 9
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my incredible beta Charlotte Ashmore for helping with my craziness as usual.

**Chapter 1**

  
  


When it happened, it wasn’t during a big battle, or fending off an attack. It was during a simple outing while hunting for sustenance. There hadn’t been any Whisperers sightings for the last couple of weeks, and although they were always on their toes, it hadn’t seemed like such a bad thing for Daryl to go out and try and get them some food. 

It was as if everything was a dream, a nightmare. People kept calling Carol’s name, pulling her, trying to get her to come with them … but her mind couldn’t process any further than the initial words coming from Michonne’s mouth. 

_ He was stabbed in the gut. _

Carol was smarter than most. Daryl, himself, would even say she was the smartest of them all. She knew what a gut  wound meant. She knew why they kept trying to push her into the room where Siddiq was trying to do as much as he could for her best friend. 

_ He’s going to die. Daryl is going to die.  _ Those were the only thoughts running through Carol’s head as she forced herself to peer into the room where Rosita was helping with the botched up surgery her baby’s daddy was performing in the pale unresponsive archer. 

“What happened?”  s he found herself asking, her body frozen, unable to take a step closer to where he lay dying. “What the fuck happened?”

It was Kelly, supporting a sobbing Connie, who answered. “They came out of nowhere. Connie says he fought them off  of her.”

There was an extra pang of pain from the knowledge he had been with  _ her  _ when it happened. But it was barely noticeable over the knowledge that even with everything Siddiq did, even with whatever Eugene had been able to grow as a post apocalyptic antibiotic … Daryl’s chances were slim. 

“We need blood! Anyone know his blood type?” Rosita yelled from Daryl’s bedside, and Carol couldn’t help but want to bark out to them there was a reason why they had everyone’s blood type listed on their paperwork, to avoid losing time with it. 

“He’s A positive,” she answered instead, holding onto the door frame,  feeling  dizzy as she watched blood drip down from the side of the surgery table. It was Daryl’s blood,  _ her _ Daryl’s blood pooling on the floor. 

“We’re A positive,” Kelly all but yelled, pushing herself and Connie through the doorway,  unconcerned  about pushing Carol away  in their haste to help their dying friend. “Take as much as you need.”

Dog’s whine brought Carol back from where her mind had drifted, his nose pushing  against  her hand. “It’s okay, boy,” she whispered as she knelt down to burrow her face  in his neck, not caring how matted his fur was with blood, “your pa is going to be okay.” It was in his fur where she allowed herself a moment to cry for Daryl as she muttered the lie against his neck.

“He’s going to be just fine.”

-.-.-.-

It had taken them hours to stop the bleeding. 

“He’s still touch and go. I don’t think he’s going to make it through the night, but we just had to try,” Rosita muttered as she dropped herself into one of the empty chairs by the infirmary walls. “It’s Daryl.”

Michonne nodded. It  _ was  _ Daryl. It shouldn’t have  made a difference,  other than him being just another member of their community, but they both knew different ly . Carol and Daryl, they were the only two left from the original group who  had  opened their arms - and their hearts - to them so they could become part of the family they currently had. Without Daryl, they wouldn't have made it this far; without Daryl, there was no Carol… and without Carol, they would have both been dead more than once by now. 

Kelly and Connie were also still in the room, with Connie grasping Daryl’s hand as Kelly sat beside her sister in support. No one knew - which was a surprise to absolutely no one - what was going on with the eldest sister and Daryl, although Michonne suspected nothing more than their resident badass redneck allowing someone else to see how good of a person he really was. Connie was incredible, but Michonne knew sadly she was missing something vital in the fight for Daryl’s attention. 

Connie was not Carol, and that simple fact made  a whole  world of  difference. 

Maybe i f she had met Daryl before he had given his heart out to his best friend, she might have had a chance … but then, Daryl wouldn’t have made it this far without Carol. 

“Where’s Carol?” 

A frown appeared on Michonne’s face as she did a double take and realized Rosita was right. Carol was nowhere in sight, and she couldn’t exactly remember the last time she had seen her. The sisters didn’t notice when both women got up, Michonne running her fingers over Daryl’s wasted Angel’s wings as she walked by, making her way to the door. 

Carol was not outside the room as they expected. 

“Does she know?”

“She was the one who knew Daryl’s blood type,” Rosita answered, shuddering as the cold of the Virginia daybreak hit her skin. “But that was hours ago.”

The sun finally rose after a night which  had  felt endless, Daryl was still breathing - barely - but it was then when they accepted the inevitable truth. 

Carol was gone. And the last time anyone had seen her had been the night before. 

In a way, they all knew it would come to this.  In the back of their minds, they knew if they lost Daryl, it was a certainty that they were going to lose Carol, too. As Rosita and Michonne tried to get more information out of a scared looking Lydia, who seemed to have been the last one to  have seen their elusive friend in Alexandria, they both tried not to verbalize what they were thinking. 

Life had become nothing more than survival for Carol since Henry’s death, and the last thread tethering  her to their community, to their family, to this world, was lying close to dea th on the surgery table. 

If Daryl died, they would most  likely lose Carol as well. No matter what happened with other people in their communities, Carol and Daryl were two parts of one whole … and while Michonne was sure Carol from a few years ago would have managed to survive without the hunter, the Carol from today was barely hanging on to life as it was. 

Carol would sooner disappear into the night than continue to live her life in Alexandria without her other half. Her soulmate.

As if they need ed yet another reason to try and keep Daryl alive. 

-.-.-.

Dog wouldn’t just stay when he was told to do so. 

It was as if the animal was following directions given by Daryl himself as the canine refused to leave Carol’s side from the moment she left the infirmary hours before. First, she had tried to leave him outside where his owner was spending his last hours, but he refused to stay as she walked away. 

Next, she tried to leave him with Judy and RJ, but, yet again, the moment she turned her back on the animal, he would somehow find a way to get out of the house and follow her. Her heart kept trying to tell her it was as if Daryl knew what she was trying to do, and he was  fighting  to keep her from doing something stupid. 

But her brain knew better. Daryl was dying, and the only thing she could do was try and stop the people who had taken so much from her once and for all. 

Alpha and her crew had taken her second chance at being a mother away from her. They had murdered her son, the one kid she had fully embraced into her heart since she had lost her Sophia all those years ago. Henry hadn’t been born from her, but she had helped him  become  reborn when she’d found him alone in the woods. From then, she had been his mother, from then, he had been the most important person in her heart next to Daryl. 

And Alpha had taken them both from her. 

Even at her lowest, she ’d had Daryl. After they  had  found Sophia at Hershel’s farm, after they  had  found Henry’s head on a pike … he had been there. Daryl had been there to put his arms around her and give her as much love, as much  compassion, as he could spare. And he had become her lifeline. As long as Daryl was alive, she knew she could come back from wherever she went in her mind. As long as Daryl was back home, waiting for her, she could fight against the current which was their fucked up existence and win every time. 

But now, as his Dog tr o tted beside her in the dark into enemy territory, Daryl was dying from a wound he would have barely made it through back in the old world. So, instead of waiting at his bedside, watching as his new paramour mourned him, she was going to end Alpha. 

End  her the only way she knew how. 

It didn't take her long to find them. In their confidence after murdering her son and the rest of their family members, they had become complacent. Alpha had thought they wouldn't have the nerve to go after them, not after what had happened the last time. Not even if they were trespassing the same borders the Whisperers themselves had laid down for them. 

Their own superiority was their downfall, but wasn’t  that always the way ? Wasn’t  that  always the idea of being protected, of being in power,  which brought the greatest empires down? Weren’t they brought down from within?

The night - and Dog - protected Carol, as she sneaked behind the first  W hisperer she found. Probably a woman, based on her size as Carol gently lowered her to the ground after having slit her throat, quickly putting on her outer clothes and mask. 

Her next victim was a big guy, probably the guy who Daryl had fought while trying to help Henry and Lydia run away when all this started. Carol knew her whole plan needed to be executed with extreme precision for it to work, and a knife to the back of the head was exactly what she needed to put the mountain of a man out of commission for good. 

She wanted to leave Alpha for last. 

Usually, Carol wasn’t a vicious person, she wasn’t someone who enjoyed the pain of others. She killed because she had to, she killed because it was killed or be killed, and with time she had learned sometimes you had to kill first to avoid  losing  the people you loved later. But this one, she was going to enjoy; this one, she wanted to savor. 

One by one, the  W hisperers died. One by one, methodically. One by one, until there was only one left. 

And then  came the  dawn. 

-.-.-.

Daryl didn’t regain consciousness until midday ... the day after his surgery. And even then, it was incoherent mumbling before he passed out again, only to scare the living hell  out of everyone when he momentarily crashed until Siddiq brought him back using CPR. 

No one could ever say Daryl Dixon wasn’t a fucking fighter. 

Rosita had been at the clinic, dropping off little Coco with Siddiq when it happened. Daryl’s gasps while calling for Carol would stay with her for a long time. 

While everything in her own love life was a mess, Eugene pining for her and being creepy, Siddiq trying to insert himself into her narrative, while Gabriel spent more time being unsure of her love for him … nothing was as tragic as the possibility of Daryl dying with Carol’s name on his lips. 

The two of them had had something the rest of them never  had . They had time. Michonne had lost Rick, and Maggie had lost Glenn; and it was so frustrating to see how much Daryl and Carol cared for each other but were too scared to do anything about it. 

They all had hoped after Carol  had  left the king that Daryl would finally step up and say something,  c onfess how much he had been hurting while he’d watched her play house with Henry and Ezekiel,  admit how much  he wanted more than just friendship with his best friend. 

But he  hadn’t . And it was probably because Carol wasn’t in the best mental state for him to do so. After all, no one knew her better than Daryl did. But now he might never have time for it, now he might die with the woman he had been befriending next to him, with his soul mate god knows where while he called out for her. 

Now, he might die and never get to tell Carol he loves her. 

Because there were three universally accepted truths for those who knew Daryl Dixon well. 

First, he would be willing to take  the shirt off his back - figuratively speaking - if someone he cared about needed it. 

Second, he would be the first one to risk his life if someone he cared about was in danger. 

And third, Daryl Dixon was irrefutably and completely in love with Carol. 

As he took what could possibly be his last breaths, it was tragic that she wasn’t by his side to hold his hand. She had forfeited her place, her hard earned place, by his bedside to a newcomer who had arrived to offer her friendship to Daryl. 

Connie had never had a chance to win Daryl’s heart. As much as she tried, he would never be able to give something which didn’t belong to him. Something they all knew he had given out years before Rosita had even met him. Before even Michonne had met him. 

Daryl Dixon’s heart had been in Carol’s hands for close to a decade now, and as much love as the introvert ed hunter was able to pass around, the gross of it had an owner already. 

And that owner was never going to be Connie. 

But at least he had someone he cared about at his side as he fought for his life. At least Connie wasn’t out somewhere getting herself killed. 

Rosita just hoped, if Daryl were to pull through, that Carol managed to do whatever it was she was doing out there. Because if he did, and she died … they would have another whole issue on their hands. 

She understood, she got why Carol was probably out there trying to end it all. And if someone could  accomplish the impossible , it was Carol. 

They all just needed her to come back alive. Daryl needed her to come back alive. 

-.-.-.-

“Did you really think so little of me,” Alpha crooned as she pushed her knife into Carol’s back, feeling as the tip broke through her clothing and then her skin, “not to notice you?”

“Well, you really took your time -” Carol hissed as she felt the knife pierce further into her back. “ E ither that, or you allowed me to butcher all of your people.”

“My people?” Alpha cackled. “They are not mine; they were just a means to an end.”

“Even your daughter?” 

“I don’t have a daughter!” 

Carol felt as her words affected Alpha more than she was willing to admit, her knife slipping out of the wound she had made on Carol’s back, giving her the opportunity she needed to elbow her in the side hard enough to dive away from Alpha. 

“You,” Alpha chuckled, “I knew you would give me trouble from the moment I saw you.”

“You killed my family.”

“You shouldn’t have crossed my borders.”

“We never agreed to your borders.”

“And now you’re paying the consequences for it.”

Her knife gleamed in the early morning light as it slashed down to meet flesh, blood splattering the grass below. 

Dog barked far away in the background. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

  
  


It took Daryl yet another half a day to wake up. He was looking a little less pale, his breathing more stable, no longer the rasping breaths of the dying, or at least everyone allowed into the infirmary hoped so. 

Judith had been trying to sneak in to see Daryl ever since she ’d woken up that morning, her excuse whenever she got caught was to use her eyes, put  on  her most innocent face - which no one actually believed - and try and emotionally bribe her way in by using Daryl’s nickname for her. 

She was his ‘little ass kicker’ after all. In the end, Michonne had allowed her five minutes by his side, where she whispered something too softly for any of the grown ups to hear. 

“I sometimes wonder,” Michonne murmured as she watched Judith run out of the infirmary, having left her hat by Daryl’s feet, “if she has any idea of how lucky she is, being loved as much as she has always been.”

“She’s lucky she doesn’t know any different, even with everything going to shit, they will always know how loved they are,” Aaron answered as he moved to stand next to her. “They have to know how loved they are.”

“Are we still talking about our kids? Or …”

“I just wished they could see,” Aaron made a motion with his head to point out Connie by Daryl’s side, “how loved they are, how loved and needed both of them are.”

“Carol is not back yet?”

“Do you expect her to be?”

“Depends,” Michonne answered, a sad smile on her face as she turned her back to Daryl’s form. “I’m pretty sure these two would know, if one of them passed … they would know.”

“If someone would have that ability, it would be those two for sure.”

“Could they fucking kiss already?”

Aaron’s snort got even Kelly’s attention, to whom he signed a half made apology. 

“I thought he had something going on with Connie.”

Michonne was the one who snorted this time around. “He’s been mumbling Carol’s name every chance he  gets . If anyone ever thought there was something there, his subconscious has quite literally betrayed him.”

Daryl’s whispering made both of them try and hide their smiles. 

“I think this means he’s going to be okay.”

“He won’t be if she doesn’t come back.”

“She will. She has to.”

-.-.-.

It had always seemed closer on the way back. 

Whenever Carol had traveled with her family when she was a child, it seemed like it took forever to get to a place, and, always, it seemed like half the time on the way back. This time around, her trek back to Alexandria seemed to be taking four times longer than her way to the  W hisperers camp. 

It might have  had  something to do with the stab wound in her stomach she was trying to  staunch, losing more blood with every determined  step, but she wasn’t really sure. 

The fight had been dirty and fast, faster than she ’d expected it to be. Alpha  had been hardened through some of the same shit they had all gone through since the world had descended into madness,  b ut she lacked what Carol had.  S he lacked the necessity to protect her loved ones. Lydia had once said Alpha believed acting like walkers made them stronger, acting worse than even animals was going to be what allowed them to survive in their world.

But Carol was tired of just surviving. She wanted her family to live. 

She wanted them to thrive. 

So, she pushed past the pain, the physical one at least, until she  accomplished her self-appointed task . What she had left a moribund Daryl to do. She didn’t even notice the knife  protruding from her abdomen as Alpha’s blood spilled all over her … her neck wound so deep Carol was sure she could see her spine. 

After that, nothing else  had  mattered other than trying to get back to Daryl, trying to get Dog back to safety. 

I n  a way, she wasn’t really worried about getting to Daryl in time, in this life or the other, she was sure they would see each other again. At least if it was in the other, she would maybe get to see her babies once more … maybe Daryl would forgive her cowardice there. 

But she had to get his Dog back to safety, otherwise he would be angry  with her. And she never could handle Daryl being angry  with her. His silence, whenever he was angry or afraid, always made her chest ache. 

And she couldn’t have him not talking to her. She could not bear  the thought of never hearing his raspy voice again. 

The  gates to Alexandria seemed to appear out of nowhere in her sights. Carol didn’t notice, but she dropped what she had  in her hands as her knees hit the pavement. 

She could hear Dog bark ing, and then there was nothing. 

-.-.-.

It was almost midday when Daryl was conscious enough to start asking for Carol. 

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been asking for her - which he had - but it had been easy to distract him for the time it took for his strength to fail him, causing him to fall into a restful sleep once more. 

“Carol?” 

Michonne couldn’t help but feel bad for Connie as Daryl pulled his hand away from her as his pain-filled gaze looked around the room, searching for his best friend. “Carol? Where are you?”

His eyes just moved from one person to the other, his breathing  quickening as fear and anxiety filled his features. “Carol?!”

“You need to lie down,” Siddiq murmured as he put his hands on Daryl’s chest, barely moving out of the way when the archer started to swing. 

“Don’t touch me! Carol?! Carol?!”

“Daryl!” Michonne was the one who finally broke through his panic, getting Daryl’s blue eyes to finally focus on her face, allowing her to push him back onto his bed. “You’re going to hurt yourself, you need to calm down.”

“Where is she, ‘Chonne?” Michonne could feel his heart racing  beneath her hand as she  held him still. “Carol?!” The last one came out almost as a whimper. It was the sixth sense they  seemed to have about each other, always knowing when the other wasn’t okay.

Michonne’s answer never came. The sound of the bell they kept for signaling stopped everyone in their tracks, Daryl’s whimpers the only sound as they counted the bell rings. 

One ring meant friendly. 

Two rings meant unknown. 

Three rings meant injured. 

Someone was injured at their gates, and as Michonne’s eyes met Daryl’s, there was no doubt who was about to come in. 

-.-.-.-.

It hurt. 

Everywhere they touched, it hurt. Carol could barely keep her eyes open as she felt hands around her, pulling and prodding at her abdomen. 

“Hurts.” Her voice sounded unfamiliar, even to her own ears as she tried to pinpoint who was standing above her. “Get off.”

“Carol.” The voice was familiar somehow, but the blurriness of her  vision, together with the pounding of her head, was not letting her focus. “You’re going to be alright.”

“Daryl?” She could feel as someone finally pulled her off the concrete floor, crying out in pain as she felt her insides try to make a break out of her abdomen. “Is he …” Carol hissed as her head hit the man’s shoulder. 

“He’s alright, as good as new.” Aaron, it was Aaron who was practically running beside the man carrying her inside. 

“Liar ...”

“No,” he chuckled sadly, “I’m not lying; you’ll see.” 

“... Love him.”

“You got to be fucking kidding me.” Carol could barely muster the strength to glare up at the bearded asshole who was carrying her before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. “Daryl is going to fucking love this.”

-.-.-

It had taken almost everyone in the infirmary to keep Daryl from jumping off the table the moment the bell had stopped ringing. 

There had always been stories in which people showed almost superhuman strength in moments of great need, but Michonne had always thought they were exaggerated ... but when it took almost five people to keep a screaming Daryl from tearing his abdomen open as Negan kicked in the infirmary door with an unconscious Carol in his arms … she believed them. 

Daryl didn’t care about anything other than reaching the pale limp Carol, pushing, screeching, punching his way towards her. 

The sounds of his heartbreaking screams of ‘ _ No!’  _ were probably going to be ingrained in everyone’s minds as the myriad hands tried to help both of their ailing patients. 

Michonne’s place was taken by Negan, who Daryl quickly punched in the face, breaking his nose. As much as he was hated, he was probably - together with Aaron - the strongest person they had at hand who could help her keep the archer still enough to stay alive. 

“Daryl!” Michonne yelled as she put her hands on Daryl’s cheeks, practically slamming his head against the gurney, forcing her face into his eye line. “You need to stay still! You’re going to tear your stitches!”

“Carol! Lemme go! Carol!”

“Daryl! Stay still!”

“Carol! Get th’ fuck offa me!” He freed his hand, punching Negan, once more, in the face, causing him to stumble away and almost crash into Siddiq. 

“Ok, that’s it! Either you stay in your bed or I’ll fucking sedate you!” Even the outburst from the usually calm doctor did nothing to keep Daryl from trying to reach towards were Carol was lying still a few feet away from him. 

“Lemme go!”

“Daryl?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the moment it reached his ears the whole room stood frozen. “Daryl?”

“I’m here, sweetheart.” Her blue eyes looked glassy as her gaze fell upon him. “I’m here.”

“Sorry.” Her eyes closed and Daryl’s heart stopped. 

“Carol?” His voice broke as he muttered her name like a prayer. 

“She’s alive, but we need to work on her.” Daryl nodded, his eyes filling with tears as Siddiq began cutting Carol’s clothes open. “You need to stay still, otherwise I’m going to have you sent to your house.”

“No!” Michonne’s glare kept Daryl from trying to sit up as he pleaded with the doctor. “I’ll be good, jus’ let me stay.”

And so he did.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There was a reason she hated sleeping. 

Ever since Alpha had wrenched her life apart, ever since she had seen her boy’s head on a pike, she’d hated her dreams. 

In her dreams, she was happy. In her dreams, she was not stuck in a loveless marriage for the betterment of her kid. In her dreams, the only thing missing was her Sophia beside them. In her dreams, Henry lived, and Daryl loved her. In her dreams, she was happy. 

Sometimes, her dreams were so realistic, she would wake up and reach for Daryl at her side. Sometimes, she would wake up and be sure she could hear Henry’s stomping footsteps on the stairs. Sometimes, she could feel Daryl’s hand caressing her face softly as the last traces of sleep slipped away into the ether. 

But in her dreams, those dreams of utopias and flying unicorns, there had never been an instance where she had felt pain. 

She had felt love, she had felt Henry’s hugs or Daryl’s soft kisses … but as Daryl’s hand continued to caress the side of her face, his rough calluses softly tracing the wrinkles at the edge of her eyes, pain began to register in the back of her head. 

Her dreams were a curse, but if she could just stay for a minute longer. If she could just keep the feel of his hand softly touching her face like she meant more than just friends to him; she would be happy. 

The pain became stronger, snagging a whimper out of her. 

“Shhh.” Daryl’s hand on her face stilled for a moment, before his thumb found the corner of her mouth and traced it gently. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t move, a’right?”

Carol’s eyes fluttered open, the light from the lone candle in the corner of the room barely allowing her to see Daryl’s face even as close as it was to hers. “Daryl?”

“Hey.” She could feel her mouth mimicking the smile appearing on his face. Daryl was looking at her as if she was a miracle, as if she was his everything. 

“You okay?”

“Shouldn’t it be me who’s askin’ that?” he chuckled softly, scooting closer to her. It wasn’t until then that she noticed how they had pushed his gurney as close to hers as possible. 

“What -”

“Happened? You scared the shit out of me, Carol.”

Her name in his voice, so rarely heard, made her heart skip a beat. “I don’t remember.”

“Aaron saw you pass out about fifty yards from th’ gates, thought you were dead by th’ time he got there.” Daryl huffed. “I thought you were dead when I saw fuckin’ Negan carry you inside pale as a fuckin’ ghost.”

“I’m not?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Daryl’s voice broke as he moved to touch his forehead to the side of her head, his tears falling from his cheeks onto hers. “We’re not.”

“Daryl?” Her hand found the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his unkempt hair. “I thought you were dying.”

“Right back at y’, sweetheart. Right back at y’.”

“We’re not?”

“We’re alive.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Daryl felt courageous enough to move his arm to hug her across her chest. “I’m sure.”

It wasn’t until then that Carol allowed herself to feel and to cry. And Daryl along with her. 

-.-.-.

Connie had tried to stay in the room, hoping to help as much as she could once they brought Carol into the infirmary. But even against her wishes, Kelly had dragged her out, signing there were too many people inside. 

Her sister had been right, but somehow, it felt wrong to leave Daryl when he was as distraught as he had been. Ever since she had met him, there had been something about Daryl Dixon which had  drawn her attention. 

Maybe it had been his rough  manner , which only hid the endless goodness of his heart to those who were too blind to see through the walls he put around his heart. She had no idea why he was like he was, but she knew pain when she saw it … and Daryl had been through a lot of it. 

She considered herself someone who was observant.  W ithout her hearing, she had to be  in order to survive in this hellish world they’d found themselves in.  B ecause of how observant she was, it was clear to her there was nothing but friendship in how Daryl had approached her. But her sister, her lovely sister, had somehow gotten into her head with her teasing and her ideas and somehow, Connie had started to believe it, too. 

Her ability to read people and situations had always been something she had been proud of, but she had definitely misread the whole situation with Daryl. 

When they ’d first met, Carol had been married to Ezekiel, so she hadn’t thought twice about the longing looks she had caught Daryl giving his best friend  on  more than one occasion . Carol never seemed the type to cheat, as little as they had all known each other all those months ago. 

But then tragedy had hit them, and with it, the dissolution of Carol’s marriage and her self-imposed exile. It  had been during those months, while Daryl - unknown to her - had longed for Carol, when Kelly started her campaign to turn her life upside down. 

As she watched from the open door of the infirmary, Connie couldn’t believe she ’d ever thought there  could be something between her and Daryl. She had allowed herself to think, to maybe hope for, something when he had agreed to keep Magna and Kelly’s secret. She had asked him, in her own way, if he could accept her in his life. 

And she had been too dumb to understand his unspoken words. As good as she was at reading body language, she had refused to see the signs right in front of her. But what was  now staring her in the face was irrefutable proof , and she could not pretend she didn’t see it. What was right in front of her, in front of  _ everyone _ , was something as clear as  crystal .

Daryl Dixon belonged to no one but Carol. There was no other way of interpreting what was right in front of her. If Daryl had not seemed prone to physical touch - other than a pat here or a hand hold to let you know it was going to be alright - it was obvious he didn’t have that issue, lying almost on top of Carol as they both sle pt peacefully next to each other. 

There was even a small smile on their faces, something so pure, Connie felt like a creep for intruding  upon their moment. 

The day before had been a slap in the face. To see the reaction, the heart wrenching fear in Daryl’s face as he seemed to scream for his best friend had opened her eyes to the reality of the two resident badass’s real relationship.

To think otherwise, to stare at what was right in front of her face and try to deny it was impossible. It wasn’t like seeing him peacefully sleeping in the arms of another woman broke her heart, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt either. 

Slowly, making sure she didn’t bother them, Connie moved to drop the flowers she had bought for them this morning before leaving and closing the door behind her. Closing whatever growing feelings she might have been developing for the archer behind a door in her heart she would never open again. 

-.-.-.

He’d once thought reality could never surpass the pleasure of dreams.  If Daryl had thought waking up in the arms of the woman he’d been pining for for the better part of the last decade was going to be like a dream come true,  he was sorely mistaken … it was better. Or it would have been had  his fucking dog not decided to jump on top of him in greeting.  It wasn’t exactly what he’d  had in mind. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Daryl growled as he tried to push the dog off him without hurting Carol or himself more. “Who the fuck let you in?”

“I did!”  Judith called cheerily from the open door, a gamine-like grin blooming on her lips. Her presence was the only thing which prevented a stream of curses from slipping past his clenched teeth.  Well, not the only thing. Carol’s tired smile - as R.J climbed onto her side of the bed - was the other reason. 

“I truly tried to keep them away,” Michonne said over  Judith’s excited babbling.  She seemed to barely take a breath between sentences. Apparently, they had both missed some very important things which  had  happened in the two days since Daryl had been stabbed. 

“I was barely able to keep her away from her Daryl yesterday, and R.J almost caused a revolt when he found out his Carol was in here as well and they hadn’t been invited.”

The smile Carol gave him over the top of R.J’s head - who had nestled in between them, his little head on her shoulder as he whispered something to her - was yet another one he would add to his mental collection. There was a spark in her eyes he had rarely seen, probably not since they had been at the prison. 

He missed the days of the prison every day. 

Mostly, he missed them because he missed  _ her _ . Carol had been dealing with so much - both of them had - for most of her life, but then she had seemed somehow more carefree. Daryl had expected the Carol from then to make an appearance when she had married the King … but she hadn’t. 

Yet  _ this  _ Carol, the bruised up, pale, and sweaty Carol beside him, reminded him of the one before her nightmare with the girls, the loss of Alexandria, of Sam, of Carl … of Henry. 

“I missed them,” Carol mumbled against R.J’s head, giving him a small kiss. “It’s alright.”

“I’m just allowing this because we know how annoying you two are as patients,” Rosita said, surprising them both since they had not noticed she had been present. “The longer they keep you entertained, the less time you will be spending annoying the hell out of me.”

“Daryl has been an exemplary patient today,” Siddiq added, trying to joke as he appeared in their line of sight. “After all, he was knocked out for most of it.”

“Shut up,” Daryl grumbled, finally able to kick Dog off the bed by pushing his foot against his side. 

“How’s he doing?” Carol asked, not looking at Daryl as she ran her hands through R.J’s hair. 

“He’s not going to drop dead, I can assure you that.” 

“I’m alright,” Daryl managed to somehow catch Carol’s eyes. “How is she, though?” He broke eye contact to look at the doctor. “Do you need something for her? I can go and find it for you.”

“Are you kidding me? You almost died, Daryl Dixon.” Carol’s voice was a pitch higher than usual, making Daryl frown in concern. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Pffft, I was not dying.”

The two of them were so worried about each other, they barely noticed when Michonne herded her kids and Dog out of the infirmary. “We need to let them talk it out, Judy,” was her half whispered response to Judith’s questioning over the situation. 

“Daryl, you were as pale as a ghost and unconscious when they got you here.”

“So were you.”

“I walked all the way back from Alpha’s camp while bleeding ... of course, I passed out.” 

The way Carol seemed to try and undermine her injuries made Daryl’s blood boil … and then he processed her words. 

“You did what?!”

-.-.-.

They hadn’t spoken for three hours. 

Daryl had never been a man of many words, but the silence, both stubbornly refusing to back down as they lay together in the infirmary was starting to get on his nerves. 

There was a tension between them he hated. It was the tension from after Terminus, when she had refused to open up to him. It was the tension after he’d asked her to stay … it was tension which had broken a small part of his heart, little by little. 

She had refused to answer his questions. All Daryl knew - all anyone knew - was she had somehow gone to the Whisperer’s camp, came back alive and, according to her, they had nothing to worry about anymore. 

Without a doubt, they all believed her. If Carol said she had gotten things sorted out, there was no one who would second guess her. 

Carol was a badass, and all the communities knew it. 

In turn, Daryl refused to answer any of her attempts to change the subject. The end result of their power struggle being the silence which had existed between them for the last three hours. 

“Good news.” Dante took a small step back as he suddenly found himself being glared at by their two patients. “This is not awkward at all … but before you start being awful patients, we’re sending you to your place.” He gave them a big smile. “Congratulations, you’re not dying today!”

“Fucking great,” Daryl grumbled as he immediately started to climb off the table. He definitely did not expect the crippling pain he felt as he moved, but he refused to show it when he noticed Carol’s eyes were on him already. “I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here.”

“We knew it was either this, or we’d have to handcuff you both to the tables so -”

“Ooh, kinky.”

If both Carol and Daryl  would have  had the power to kill someone with just a look, Negan would have been a walker by the time he grinned  and finished his comment. 

“Why the fuck is he here?” 

“I don’t like it any better than you do, Daryl,” Michonne sighed, pushing the sole wheelchair they had in the community towards where Daryl was standing, “ b ut our place is far, and he seemed to do an okay job yesterday not dropping Carol.”

“Fuck no,” Daryl growled, taking a step forward, his need to keep Negan as far away from Carol trumping any fight the two of them were currently in. “He ain’t touching her again.”

“I don’t mind getting to carry you instead, sweetheart.” 

Carol huffed, hating  Negan’s use of the pet name Daryl had unconsciously  called her  the night before. 

“No,” Daryl growled. 

“Daryl -” Michonne started, trying to placate the angry redneck. 

“No,” Carol’s voice sounded stronger than she looked. “Daryl can take the wheelchair, I’ll walk.”

“Are you fucking kiddin’ me?” Daryl laughed, exasperated. “Look at you, sweetheart, you can barely stand! You’re hurt!” 

“So are you!”

“Aren’t they cute?” Negan’s voice was booming enough, and hated enough by the couple, to make them stop fighting so they could glare at him together. “It’s their version of ‘who’s going to hang up first’.” 

“I’m going to kill you.”

“Promises, promises.”

Daryl took a step closer, groaning and clutching his stomach when he tried to take another one without the aid of the support the bed was giving him. 

“You can barely move, Daryl,” Michonne murmured as she pushed the wheelchair closer to him. “And no one here can actually carry you if you fall flat on your face halfway through.”

“I’m not gonna fall.”

“Daryl.” Carol’s piercing gaze focused only on him made Daryl drop his gaze, trying to hide the immediate blush which threatened to appear high on his cheeks. They had been best friends for years, and yet she could  still  make him blush like the best of them. “Please don’t get hurt  on my behalf.”

“A’right.”

Carol’s glare was the only thing keeping Negan from commenting about how easily Daryl had given in, and Carol knew it. 

“I guess that means, sweetheart -”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Their growls were almost in unison, causing Negan to try and contain a smile as he put his hands up, trying to appear innocent. 

“Let’s jus’ get this over with.” Daryl’s words were more a grumble than a proper enunciation but they all knew what he was trying to say. They just wanted to get home. 

Daryl should have known better than to think Negan would leave it at that. He had been shown over and over again how incredibly annoying and outright obnoxious the man was. He should have killed him when he’d had a chance, before he owed him for the life who had basically become his adopted daughter. 

It  had taken Negan less than three minutes before  he’d started stirring shit. And Daryl guessed the only reason it hadn’t been sooner was because everyone knew that if for some reason he dropped Carol, she would have his nuts in her hand sooner than Negan could plan an escape route.

“So … is there a specific reason why y’all’re so quiet?” Daryl glared at Negan over his shoulder, causing the other man to grin at him. “Because I have to be honest, Carol you were definitely not quiet yesterday when I was taking you to prince charming over there …”

“Shut up.”

“Wait … what is he talking about?”

“Nothing,” Carol said finally looking at Daryl, making a motion with her hand trying to dismiss whatever Negan was about to say as inconsequential. “Really, it’s nothing.”

“Oh, you haven’t told him?!” The only reason Negan didn’t cackle was because of the look of warning Michonne gave him over her shoulder. “That’s precious.”

“What haven’t you told me?” Daryl kept trying to turn to look at Carol, hissing whenever he felt his stitches pull. “Is it something else? Do we have to worry about  some new threat ?”

“Oh, Daryl,” Michonne murmured as she heard Negan snicker behind her, the sound suddenly cut off by what she could only guess was a well placed jab to the throat by Carol. Michonne hadn’t been there, but by the look of glee  on Negan’s face, and the one of dread  on Carol’s, she could imagine what her friend had disclosed in the state she was in yesterday. 

“Carol? Are you okay? Were you hurt more than you let on? What are you not telling me?”

“Daryl,” Michonne called out to him, putting her hand on his shoulder to keep him from jumping  from the wheelchair to try and reach a mortified Carol. “You should go in.”

“Not without Carol.”

“Of course, not without her.” Sometimes, Michonne wanted to hit the two of them over the head and force them to talk about their feelings. Other times, she wanted to lock them up in a room and hide the key until they finally fessed up what everyone could clearly see. 

Today, she was so tired; she was close to literally telling them what the other one was feeling. 

Michonne took a deep breath, and started guiding Daryl up the porch steps following Negan who had finally quieted down after Carol’s punishment. 

She couldn’t force them to talk, but maybe she could give them a well-needed push. 

They sure seemed to need it. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Michonne was evil incarnate. Or a Goddess. Or maybe both. Maybe she was the reincarnation of one of the old greek Gods, who was both evil and good at the same time. Like the God from the old Testament.

Michonne, her friend, who Carol basically considered her sister … had dropped Daryl off in her room and scurried out of it faster than a rat on a sinking ship. 

The silence was tense as they both sat on either side of her queen sized bed; backs to each other. It was the kind of  tension which rarely  existed between them, Negan’s words probably still running through Daryl’s head.

“It’s nothing bad,” Carol whispered loud enough to reach him. “I’m not hurt.”

“Carol.” She hated whenever he used her name, his voice rough yet so delicate, making her chest tingle whenever he used it to mutter her name. “You’re hurt.”

“No more than you are.”

“I was careless, I got too cocky for my own britches.  _ You _ were stupid.”

Her eyes  began to sting. Intelectually,  she knew what she had done was careless, and if it hadn’t worked, it would have caused even more issues for them … but to hear him call her stupid, it hurt. 

“You were hurt.” She hated how her voice broke, hated how he had the power to turn her into the woman he had first met with just one word.  _ Stupid _ . Useless. It had been something Ed had called her more than once, and something she knew she was; after all, only someone stupid would have stayed with that piece of shit as long as she had. 

“And you could have died.”

“But I didn’t.” Her eyes were down on her lap where she found herself wringing her hands in a nervous tick she thought she had left behind. 

“But you could have.”

“And what if I had?” She knew tears were running down her cheeks, and her voice was clearly breaking with them as she spoke. “What if I had died while taking them down? They almost killed you!” The last part came out more like a growl as she angrily wiped the tears away from her  face . “They almost opened you up like a pig in a slaughterhouse, and you expect me to just let it go?!”

“Yes!”

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t have done the same? Are you telling me if I had been the one almost dying, brought in barely alive, pale as a fucking ghost, you wouldn’t have burned the whole world to the ground to get back at whoever hurt me?!”

They were yelling at each other, both still too pale, still too weak to be pacing up and down the room as they would like to be; still sitting on the bed instead of standing up. But at least now they were looking at each other. 

“I would have been smart about it!”

“That’s fucking rich!” Carol growled. “Calling me stupid!”

“I call it as I see it!”

“Fuck you, Dixon!”

“I doubt you will, you can barely fucking move!”

They were both breathing heavy, as if they had just run a marathon. Daryl’s hands were shaking, Carol noticed, as he moved to wipe the tears he tried to hide from her. He was not angry at her, she realized in that moment. He was terrified … not of her, but  _ for  _ her. 

“Daryl …”

“What?!” He was no longer looking at her, moving slowly to lie down on the bed, hissing when it pained him to do so. 

“I don’t want to fight.”

“Fucking Ace.”

“I mean it.”

Instead of lying down face up like he did, she was able to maneuver to lie on her side, one of her arms under her head while she allowed her other hand to move slowly to link her small finger with his.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” Carol paused, breathing in, “but I’m not sorry I did it.”

“I thought I lost you.” He was still not looking at her, but she could see he was blinking back tears. “When they brought you in, you looked more dead than alive.”

“You weren’t looking so good either.”

“What would I have done, if I’d’ve woken up an’ you were gone?”

“You would have moved on, maybe you would have moved to the Hilltop to be with Connie -”

“Th’ fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“She has the hots for you, she’s very pretty, and young, and smart.”

“Why the fuck would I want her?”

“Do I have to explain the birds and the bees, Daryl?”

“Staph.”

They both chuckled, Daryl finally turning his head to look at her. 

“I really don’t know what I would do if I were ever to lose you.”

“You’ll be alright.”

“I don’t think I would.”

Carol swallowed hard, being the one to break eye contact this time around. 

“When I saw you  on that table -”

“Carol ...”

“No ... wait, let me finish.” She was still not looking at him, but somehow she was now holding his hand - or he was holding hers - against his chest. “When I saw you  on that table, something just snapped, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. All I could think of was that she had taken someone else from me.”

“I’m here.” She could swear he had brought her hand  up to kiss the back of it, but if she took too much time to think about it, she would not be able to finish her story. 

“In that moment, as Kelly and Connie were getting ready to give you blood in a last Hail Mary … I realized Alpha had taken the last thing I cared about in the world from me.” Carol took a deep breath, allowing her tears to flow freely as she focused her eyes on Daryl’s rising and falling chest. 

“She took Henry, she took my baby boy from me, and it was Sophia all over again. I had not been strong enough to protect him, not fast enough, I hadn’t been smart enough. I thought I had taught him well, but he still died.”

Daryl kept quiet, as much as he wanted to interrupt her, to let her know how wrong she was … he knew her, and he knew she needed this. 

“That’s why I couldn’t stay. Why I couldn’t stand to see Lydia at first. There were all these reminders of him, of how I had allowed myself to open up my heart once more only to  have it ripped apart once again.” 

“I miss him.” She took a shuddering breath. “I miss him with every breath I take, just like I still miss Sophia even after all these years.”

“And then she tried to take you, too. She tried to take the person I love  the most, the only one  I have left in this world. I just knew then, she had to die.”

He had shuffled until she was able to rest her head on his chest, closing her eyes as she heard his heart beating. He was there, he was alive. 

“They didn’t know if you were going to make it, so the decision was made for me. Michonne was too busy trying to keep Judy from breaking down, so it was easy.”

“Fuck.”

Carol smiled sadly as she played with his fingers where they rested against his stomach. “In the end it was just her and me …”

“And you made her pay.”

“I was not hoping to find you alive when I got back, and I was more than sure I wasn’t going to make it -”

“But you had to let them know.”

Carol nodded. “I didn’t want everyone to worry about them still.”

“And me? Are you going to let me worry about you now?”

“There’s no need, Pookie.” The use of his old hated nickname did nothing to deter him from his goal. “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not, and that’s okay.” Daryl took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he let Carol invade all of his senses. “You haven’t been okay for a while, but I’m here now and I want to help.”

“And believe it or not, that’s more than what I need.”

“Liar.”

“Maybe a little bit of food is also needed.”

“I can hear your stomach growling. For a moment, I honestly thought it was a walker inside the walls.”

“Shut up.”

From her room they could hear Judy and RJ playing, their giggles bouncing off the walls until they reached their ears. 

“Oh, shit,” Carol gasped, stifling a giggle when it made her side hurt.

“What is it?”

“Do you think they heard you yelling at me that I was too hurt to fuck you?”

Daryl’s groan made Carol burst into barely contained giggles. 

“I can’t believe I said that.”

“I can’t believe it either.” Carol giggled a little more. “Even this hurt, but I’m sure I could make it worth your while.”

Daryl could not see her face, but he could just picture her naughty smile and her wiggling eyebrows. 

“Sweetheart, when I fuck you, I  will be the one making it worth your while.”

Carol’s burst of laughter, followed by a hiss of pain made Daryl laugh -  causing him  to  hiss as well. 

“I can’t believe you just tried to pass that  off  as smooth.”

“It was smooth.”

“Not at all.” 

Their little gigglefest had caused them to move, finding themselves now face to face, their faces just inches apart. 

“You really need to work on your pick up lines, Daryl.”

“What for? I already got the woman I want in my bed.”

His eyes were so blue that Carol couldn’t help but feel like she was drowning in them. 

“Technically it’s my be -”

They say first kisses are almost never perfect. Rarely, do they have the sound of bells in the background, or fireworks combusting from the heat of it. But once in a while, a first kiss is so perfect there  are no words to describe it. 

“Wow,” Carol whispered a moment later, opening her eyes which she had not noticed  she’d closed. 

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Daryl shrugged, smiling softly when she touched his cheek gently. Lovingly. 

“No need to apologize.”

“No?”

He was looking at her in the way only he was able to … like she could both make and destroy his world. He was looking at her like there was no one else but  _ her _ . 

She was the one to initiate their second kiss. And their third. And their fourth. 

-.-.

“How did you do it?” 

They were lying in bed, Carol’s face nestled in the space between his shoulder and neck, her breathing a caress against his skin. The simple fact of being in each other’s arms was a gift, one Daryl was sure he would never take for granted. 

“How I did what?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

And she did. Carol was used to playing dumb, her ability to switch between personalities, between masks, was one which had kept her alive throughout the years. But never with Daryl, with him there were no masks … only her. 

“Dog helped me, he kept me safe.” Daryl’s chest puffed out a little, which made Carol laugh. A proud papa. “We sneaked out while everyone was busy with you … I couldn’t think of anything else but ending her.”

Daryl made a noise of agreement, as his hand started running up and down her tense back. 

“I was not going to allow her to take anyone else from us, ever again.”

“The big guy?”

“I got them while they were asleep.”

“Atta girl.”

Silence fell upon them. Carol was happy to note though, it was their usual silence. The one born from complete faith and trust in each other. He didn’t need to know anything else, because he knew  _ her _ . 

“We need to tell Lydia.” His voice sounded a little choked up as he mentioned the girl who he had basically adopted after he’d rescued her from her insane mother. After he’d rescued and tried to help both Lydia and her baby boy. 

“We can ask Michonne to send her up.”

Daryl sighed. He wasn’t ready for it, he wasn’t sure he would ever be. He remembered how conflicted he had felt when his old man had kicked the bucket, how even if he’d hated him it had almost destroyed him. 

“I’ll be here for you.” As always, as he looked up at her clear blue eyes from where she was now leaning over him, she just knew what he needed. He hadn’t had to vocalize where his thoughts were for her to understand him. 

He never had since the moment when she had first climbed onto the back of his bike back at the farm. 

“I love you.” The surprise on her face at his whispered words made his heart hurt, in a way, knowing how she was feeling. “I think I have since back at the farm.” Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, happy tears, he hoped. “I just wanted you to know.”

“A piece of me loved you from the moment you went out looking for Sophia,” Carol’s voice broke when she mentioned her daughter’s name. The smile which appeared on her was face a mirror of the one on his own. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t find her, and I’m sorry I couldn’t keep Henry safe.”

A few tears ran down her cheeks, as Carol moved to lie back down with her head on his chest, her hand searching and entwining with his. 

“She would have loved you, you know?” Daryl didn’t need for Carol to say Sophia’s name again to know she was talking about the little girl who still plagued his nightmares once in a while. “Just as much as I do.”

Daryl just hugged Carol closer to him, dropping a kiss on top of her head as he allowed peaceful slumber to engulf them. Carol knew she was loved, and in a miraculous turn of events, she loved him as well. 

They were going to be alright. 


End file.
